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Introduction

In the early 1970s, on an island of the Canary group, Gran Canaria, a Spanish possession located off the northwest coast of Africa, a French gal, Jöelle, always had a large blank sheet of heavy drawing paper ready when she had friends over, and we all drew and wrote something on it before we left. I thought it was a great idea, visited frequently and did my share of graffiti. She later frames them and they hang on the walls of her wonderful old home in a small island town.

In 1977 I found a kewl hard cover book having blank white pages -- I ran across it somewhere in Tenerife, one of the other main islands of the Canary group. Somehow it reminded me of Life, how we all also begin writing in its blog on totally lily white blank pages after birth, and some even before that. Now that 37 years had gone by since my birth, filing cabinets filled with letters and other Remembrances of Skies Past, it dawned on me that I too could begin a new form of document, all contained in this simple book -- until it was filled, of course.

With the passing of the years, remaining a few more in Tenerife, studying and teaching at the University of La Laguna, before returning to New Jersey, USA, many pages are filled with memories of friends and thoughts, and yet many are still untouched by fine point marker and human hand.

I recently got myself a new scanner -- although not quite as large a platten as I wanted, it still serves its general purpose for most things. Unfortunately, the pages in my TAO Book are slightly larger, so I was unable to scan many of the entries at this time. I may decide to take pics of the remaining pages with my digital camera, but have to work out the logistics, since I need some kind of a tripod or scanning platform to do an adequate job of it.

A Curious First Scan

The pages in my TAO Book are of a heavier than normal high rag content stock -- it was made by one of the large printing firms on the island and I probably received it as a sample from the company. Since the entries are done in fine point marker, part of some of the drawings may be seen, on ocassion, on the other side of the page, so I only use the right facing page for additions.

My first scan was of the only thing on what might be considered as its title page, the I Ching hexagram that I got when casting a prognostication concerning the use of this tome as my personal TAO Book. When I scanned it, naturally I got exactly what is seen on that title page --

but, when I used the EQUALIZE option in the old computer photo application I was using, I was quite surprised to find that the entry on the next page was also visible --

it shows the imperfections of the title page drawing, done with a pen using India ink, part of which I had to white out or use a blade to even off the ragged edges of some of the lines -- this immediately suggested to me that what anyone writes in their TAO Book eventually leads to the EQUALIZED next entry, as a natural progression. Constantly searching for Truth often leads to Oneness, as imperfect and transparent as the new entries may be -- and thus it was.

Why the Yi Ching Hexagram?

Intuition, I suppose. That period of my life was a time of major introspection (I was then in my 20s), filled with observations while living in previously unknown cultures, replete with innumerable new ideas and experiences -- a search for answers and connections -- it remains with me even today.

After the Yi Ching is cast, one obtains a series of lines, each having its own conceptual universal idea. They are combined into two Trigrams, of three lines each, each of which has an extended meaning -- notice how the following schematic of the Trigrams has as its center the Yin-Yang symbol in the form of the Sun, including the solar flares on the perimeter and a large sunspot near its center! The Sun and its cyclic activity nature, and the relationship of these cycles to terrestrial phenomena has been a personal research topic for many years --

Solar X-rays: Geomagnetic Field:

From n3kl.org

Together these two resultant Trigrams provide the answer to the question I posed about using the newly found tome as my TAO Book. In the above instance, we have the union of Li with K'un --

Li - fire

The radient strength of the Sun, that warms and illuminates everything. In humans, it represents vision and intelligence, the discriminating light of the mind. Consciousness clings to its object as fire clings to its fuel.

K'un - the trigram of earth

The earth is fully open to receive the creative impulse of heaven and bear life, giving form it its inspirations and supporting its creatures in their growth. Generous, tolerant and nurthering, she embodies the ideal of altruistic service.

In combination as a hexagram, Li above K'un, the meaning thus transmutes to --

Chin

Fire with earth in progress. The powerful prince is honored with horses in large numbers. In a single day he is granted audiences three times.

What follows is simply a presentation of the pages in my TAO Book, briefly annotated. Some of the scans are not exactly as perfect as I might want them to be, and if the camera gives better results, I shall replace some of these scans with the digital pics.

Join me on this personal journey into the past, through my TAO Book entries. The pages recreate the visits of friends to my home in Tenerife, La Atlántida, and later, on my return to the USA, at my place in New Jersey.

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TAO Book - - Part I

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